In our settlement-level study using the Markov chain method and dynamic regression
panel models, we found that in the period 2011-2021, income in the previous year strongly
affects income status, i.e., income shows high persistence. Despite the steady increase
in per capita income over the period under study, the spatial structure of the income
distribution shows a fixed state, with a high degree of stability: poor municipalities
remain poor, while rich municipalities remain rich. Only in the Central and Western
Transdanubian regions is there a greater chance of a municipality's population moving
into a higher income category. The results of the regression models show that, in
addition to the income level of previous years, the higher number of self-employed,
the greater distance of settlements from cities and Budapest, the employment structure
and the higher share of job seekers have a significant impact on the income of the
population.